A Revelation in Vastness

dbf1a-728908Photographing big landscape raises the issue of how to effectively portray vastness. Whether seascape or landscape, great empty spaces limited mostly by the horizon, distant mountains, shoreline, clouds or sky, require dealing with a whole lot of empty space. I try to solve this by invoking color and light differentiation, texture, and pattern – no matter how subtle – to provide some perspective and reduce the portions of the colossal landscape into elemental blocks. During thirty years focusing on landscape, I have primarily explored how motion strokes can meld these elements to explore the depth of space.

A month ago, a friend sent me a link to the 100 best pictures from the Hubble Telescope’s 16-year journey. What first struck me about these images was the incredible vastness of outer space. The dimensions of the Sombrero Galaxy – 28 million light years from Earth, 50,000 light years across, and its 800 billion suns, are staggering. How do you get your mind around the eternity of the cosmos? (more…)

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